Trouble-car attachment



June 17, 1924.

E. M. BUTLER TROUBLE CAR ATTACHMENT Filed March 22, 1922 [NI 'ENTOR. za/ agg w/er 6 A T 45 I is rigidly mounted. I

Patented June 17, 1924.

UNITED STATES" PATENT OFFICE, I

nneAn M. BUTLER, or nnoo-xnyn, NEW YORK.

7 'rno nnLn-olan ATTACHMENT. 7 I 1 :i

Application: filed March 22, 1922". Serial No. 545,717.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDGAR M. BUTLER, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York city, borough of Brooklyn, in the county oflKings and sm ar New York, have invented a certain new and useful Trouble-Car Attachment, of which the following is a specification. I

This invention is an attachment adapted to be associated with trouble or service cars employed by garage owners in lendingaid to garage.

motor cars when they become disabled on the road. It is the practice of garages tohave service cars which are sent to the scene of accidents or breakdowns and are, in effect, portable workshops which permit of repair.

of minorbreakdowns but are further usually provided with chain hoists, cranes or other analogous devices by means of which a wrecked car may be towed back to the so constituted that the front wheels of the car may be lifted free of the road for the purpose of facilitating towing of the car in the event of broken steering gear or broken front wheels. Such a trouble car isshown generally in my application Serial No. 475226 filed June 6, 1921. a

In my said copending application, the hoisting and towing means associated with the trouble car is in the form of a rigid beam one end of which is anchored to the car at the rear of the drivers seat. a The beam is maintained in an upwardly'inclined position by means of a strut member and the outboard end of the beam is provided with one or more sheaves and intermediate the ends of the beam is mounted awinch. A rope or cable passes from thewinch over the sheaves through the hoisting block providedwith a catch hook. When the car is so damaged as to require towing the block and winch are utilized to lift the front of the car free from the pavement and said car is thereafter towed by the trouble car on which the beam The structure described has been found in practice to give highly eflic'ientand satisfactory results in the towing ofvdisabled cars but, my experience has shown that this 7 a structure is open to one disadvantage,

namely, that when the frontof the car is supported in lifted position by the block and cablethere is a tendencyon the part of the car being towed to lag or creep up on the tow or trouble car. Unless the block is Most of these towing devices are raised sufliciently high so as to give practically no slack in the cable thereis a tend-- ency on the part of the car being towed,

when thetow car is braked, to creep forwardly to such extent that the end of the beam engages with the radiator of the car being towed with consequent liability of damage to the radiator.

The object of the present invention is to obviate this tendency in a simple, eflicientl y andeconomical manner and without unduly encumbering the tow car oradding undesirable weight thereto. 5

In its preferred practical form, the invention' contemplates the employment of a rigid or resilient member adapted to be associated with the block and anchored at its forward end to the strut of the tow or trouble car. In the preferred construction this member is i in the form of a metal bar pivotally secured at one of its ends to the block and at its other end to the strut which maintains the beam in inclined position. By employing this rigid member objectional sway of the car being towed in a back and forth direction with relation to the tow car, is entirely obviated.

Features of the invention, other than those adverted to will be apparent from the hereafter detailed description and claims, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

The accompanying drawings illustrate difierent practical embodiments of the in vention, but the constructions therein shown are to be understood as illustrative, only,

and not as defining the limitsof the invenvention,

Figure '1 shows the present invention as associated with a tow or trouble'car, which car is shown in the act of towing a crippled car;

' Figure 2 is a perspective view of a part of the construction shown in Figure 1; and,

to the car floor. The beam 5 .is maintained in an upwardly inclined position by means of a strut 22 which underlies the beam intermediate its ends and rests upon the floor of,

This strut, which is or A shape, is

the car. provided between its base and apex'with a transverse brace 24 and is secured to the beam by a bolt 18. Mounted intermediate the ends of the beam and rigidly secured thereto is'a winch "10 embodying, among other details of "construction, a winding drum. A cable-1'5 wrapped about the wind ingdrum extends therefrom to and over one of the'sheaves '8, thence to and about the pul ley'of block 16, thence to and over a see ond sheave 8 and passes down and. 1s secured and-embodies a rigid bar 20 perforatediat both of its'cnds. One end of the bar is secured -'to the block16 by means ofa'bolt 21, the block being preferably provided with a perforated lug to receive this bolt. The

bar 20 is made of such length that when the" car to be'towed is inlifted position with one end of the bar secured to the block 16. said bar will project forw'ardly'and lie between brackets 23 mounted on the transverse'brare 24 of the strut 22 as clearly shown in Fig ure 2-." 'The'brackets 23 are perforated so as to permit the passage of a pin orrlb'oltg 2fi through said brackets and through theper foration in the adjacent end ofthe bar 20.

In practice, it ispreferredto remove :the pin or bolt 25 during the act of raising or lowering the car 3 but afterthe car 4 has been elevated as desired, the bar 20 is brought into the position shown in Figure l b'efore any attempt is made to towi the damaged car. l

It will be apparent that after the bar 2*) is in place longitudinal sway or creeping bf the car 49 toward and away from thecar i during the towing of the former bythe. lat ter cannot occur and when the bar 20 is 'einploycd as specified the car P may be towed without damage thereto.

.Tn the preferred embodiment of the in-v vention the in-board en d of the barr20 is preferably anchored to the strut member 22 in'the' manner specified though, if desired, it may be anchored directly to the we. to thebeam 5, or to any other convenient part. I

Instead of employing a rigid bar 20. as

described I may provide for slight'yielding intliespacing membenby incorporating in this construction, one or more springs so that its length may automatically slightly vary to take up" sudden thrust or tension and obviate jar or undue strain. A simple form of resilient spacing member is shown in Figurer3. in central, section and may embody two telescoping sections 20 and 520 the former of" which houses aspring 26. One endiof. the springis' secured to a pin 27"ino11ntedf in the inner?v end of the section mit their ready attachment to the block? 16 and pin 25;?

'yThe' assembly described embodying either the rigid or resilient spring member, is. found. infpr actice to I give; unusually meritorious results andientirely overcomes many of the disadvantages heretofore present in the towing ofone'car by another- These dis"- advantages have 'been particularly; present in"thetpast when it was desired'.'to tow. a

car with the front'thereof in: elevated position.

If have referredto the. elevation of the front"ofia"car toibeto-wed, but it will be understood that the rear ofv a car to be towed may be elevatedl'instead of the front thereof. Accordingly, the expression infthe claims relativetoithe front-of thecar is not to be considered as excludingthe elevationofthe rearnf the car. Moreover, in the claims I have employed the words hoisting cable? generically to include a chain, rope or other analagous hoisting means.

In theforegoing; specification, I have set forth the invention in its preferred pracr. tical forms, but, Ija'm aware. that'the structure shown is capable of modification, within. the range .ofiequivalents, without departing from-the. invention which -is to be understood. as broadly novel aszis commensurate withJitheiap pended claims.

Having thus fully described the invention, what I .claim' as new and'desire to secure by LettersPatentis: r g

1. A trouble car embodying means for hoisting and supporting the forward or rear portion ofya car -tobeifltowed, and a spacing member separate from the hoisting and supporting means and secured-atoneofits ends togthe-ihoisting means adjacent the point of attachment i'of ithe "hoisting means with the car to! be towed and fixedly secured rat its other end to-the trouble-can whereb-y the spacing member is secured to the trouble car i'aga'inst' relativelongitudinal movement and serves to preclude the car to be towed from creeping or lagging with respect to the trouble car during the towing of the former by the latter. I I

2. A trouble car embodying a beam, one end of which is anchored to the trouble car, a strut resting on said car and cooperating with the beam intermediate its ends to support the beam in inclined position with its 10 upper end projecting beyond the back of with the outboard end of the beam andembodying a block having associated therewith means to engage the car to be towed, and a spacing member one end of which is secured to the strut and the other end of which is secured to the'b-lock.

In testimony whereof I have signed the foregoing specification.

EDGAR M. BUTLER. 

